SiteHive use vibration and acoustics labs to test multi-sensor devices

Challenge

SiteHive is an Australian real-time environmental management organisation with tier 1 customers across Federal infrastructure, State-significant and private development projects in industries including aviation, rail, road, commercial property and more.

Their multi-sensor monitoring devices deliver live environmental data directly from site and feeds into intelligent cloud software to presents all key information to customers. They are working with the Vibration and Acoustics teams at UTS Tech Lab on:

• Sound level meter enhancements, including PCB design, signal processing for standards conformance, and mechanical/material design of the housing cap.
• Data analytics including audio classification, sound level prediction and interpolation between multiple devices and metro scale analysis with 100+ devices across a metro area.

Solution

SiteHive secured supported access to the Fully Anechoic Chamber to undertake testing, supervised by the National Measurement Institute, in accordance with IEC 61672 Electroacoustics – Sound Level Meters. Specifically, testing to date has focused on determining the directional response, level linearity and impact of attaching a windshield to the Hexanode device.

SiteHive worked alongside UTS experts to develop a bespoke, automated test campaign integrating industry-standard Brüel & Kjær noise and vibration hardware and software acquisition and analysis solutions into their Python-scripted Jupiter Notebook.

The research, design, development and testing services will support their environmental monitoring product portfolio certification and evolution to new technologies and markets.

A co-authored, peer-reviewed paper describing this, and the underlying Hexanode design development, has been submitted to Acoustics 2022 – the Acoustical Society of New Zealand Conference in Wellington.